(Courtesy of <Peaceful One).
The way we feel and the way we act is greatly affected by the environment which surrounds us; our physical environment can nourish our spirit and promote healing. For many of us, our homes have become merely physical structures, walls enclosing space, tables covered with knick-knacks, and drawers, closets, and cupboards filled with objects we no longer find beautiful or useful. We should each take steps to create a home which greets its occupants into a vibrant, soothing, healing, comfortable space which promotes rejuvenation and renewal, a sacred space. There are many ways in which to create sacred space, some of which are explained below.
Feng Shui and Vaastu Shastra
The ancient Chinese art of Feng Shui, or geomancy, allows us to manipulate the energy, life force, or chi, which moves through our homes so that we can receive the maximum benefits from it. Things such as the use of plants, modifying the lighting, placing mirrors in strategic locations, moving the furniture around, clearing clutter, getting a fish for movement, opening the windows often to let in fresh air, choosing certain colors for our walls, adding an outside waterfall, and even playing calming music like ocean waves, forest sounds or rain falling can help us transform our life and enhance our home. Consider taking a Feng Shui class to help you learn how your spaces can be designed and re-arranged in order to provide you with balance and harmony.
Although less well-known than Feng Shui, Vaastu Shastra is a 5,000-year-old Indian architectural and design philosophy which is used for healing and improving the lives of people in relation to their living space. The fundamental principle of Vaastu Shastra is that everything is made of five fundamental elements – Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Spirit. Placing these five elements in the proper order and in the right proportion creates better living conditions in a home. You might want to purchase a book on Vaastu Shastra to compare it to Feng Shui and decide which method you find more appealing.
Make Your Home Your Hobby
In “Simple Abundance – A Daybook of Comfort and Joy”, Sarah Ban Breathnach suggests that you make your home one of your hobbies. She quotes English novelist Arnold Bennett as follows:
“A home which is not a fair expression of us at our best, a home which lacks what it might have, a home which is in any part more ugly or in any part more uncomfortable than it absolutely need be . . . a home which cannot be run without waste, a home which by any detail gets on the nerves of its inhabitants and so impairs the harmony of their existence—something aught to be done about such a home . . . why not make the perfecting of the home a hobby?”
What does your home lack that would make it more comfortable and harmonious? Maybe you want a linen closet with the following: a scented drawer liner covering the shelves, lavender sachets, thick towels arranged in whicker baskets, and 100% Egyptian cotton sheets, with each set stored together by placing them inside one of the pillowcases. How about a well-stocked kitchen pantry with your dry goods stored in glass jars? Your pantry can include: olives, chutney, pesto, dried apricots, sauces (Soy, Tabasco, Teriyaki, Worcestershire . . .), balsamic vinegar, canned artichokes, unsweetened chocolate, lentils, pickles, maple syrup, honey, and anything else you can think of. Perhaps you’ve always wanted a herb garden where you could grow your own basil, mint, parsley, oregano, thyme, and chamomile. Make your home sacred by following Arnold Bennett’s advice and turning your home into a hobby.
Water Purification Ceremony
There are many ceremonies you can use to help you create sacred space, one of the best being water purification ceremonies. In the wonderful book “Sacred Space – Changing and Enhancing the Energy of Your Home”, Denise Linn explains how to carry out water purification ceremonies when you move into a new home, for spring cleaning, or when the energy in your home feels out of kilter. Three methods that you can use are: charge the water you will use for the ceremony with solar energy, charge the water with moon energy, or charge the water with crystal energy.
Denise explains that to charge water with solar energy, you need to place a ceramic or glass bowl and leave the bowl filled with water outside in the sunlight where it can soak up the healing properties of solar energy, for about three hours. To create Moon Water she recommends that you leave water outdoors where it will be infiltrated by moonbeams. A third method is to use crystal-charged water by placing a cleansed, clear quartz crystal in a clear glass container of water for twenty-four hours.
When the water is ready, Denise advises that you dip the end of a tree branch or a sprig of a herb or plant in the bowl and flick water as you walk around each room of the house. You can also use your finger tips.
Create a Meditation Room or Meditation Space
“Meditate not to escape…but to cultivate an inner stillness that is never disturbed by stress yet always moved by the simplest of pleasures.” Zen quote
You can set aside a room in your home to be used for meditation, or you can simply select a corner of a room, use a panel to separate it from the rest of the room, and turn into a meditation space. There are many things you can place in your meditation space, such as a meditation cushion to sit on comfortably, Buddha figures, and a CD player to play soothing music. You can choose to hang mandalas on the walls or maybe photographs of your family, or anything else that symbolizes the sacred for you. Create an altar on which you can place a Tibetan singing bowl, incense, aromatherapy candles, a vase filled with flowers, a table top fountain, and any other artifacts which you find useful for your meditation sessions.
Conclusion
Creating sacred space can mean something different to everyone. You can take advantage of the different placement methods that have come down to us through antiquity, such as Feng Shui and Vaastu Shastra, or simply create a meditation space for yourself in a corner of a room. There are many cleansing ceremonies that exist to help clear the energy in a room and to help attract health and abundance into your home. However, by simply creating a home that makes your senses come alive and that fills you with joy and tranquility—whether it’s a bathtub with a view that invites you to soak in warm scented water for hours, or a rose covered gazebo in the garden where you can sit and read—you’re creating a sacred space for yourself and for your loved ones.
How do you create sacred space in your home?
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